This disclosure relates in general to auxiliary bearing systems, and in particular to an auxiliary bearing system for a magnetically supported rotor system.
In turbomachine systems, if a primary bearing (such as a magnetic bearing) fails, the shaft of the turbomachine will generally fall or drop onto the adjacent mechanical surfaces. This drop often causes substantial damage to the shaft and/or the surrounding components. In turbomachine systems that include an auxiliary bearing, the shaft may drop onto the auxiliary bearing without damaging the shaft or surrounding components.
An auxiliary bearing system is oftentimes subject to extreme accelerations and/or forces during the drop of a shaft operating at high speed, thereby limiting the life of the auxiliary bearing system. To combat these extreme accelerations and/or forces, an auxiliary bearing system may include an inertia ring that is coupled to the shaft. When the primary bearing fails, the inertia ring engages one or more generally stationary surfaces having sacrificial frictional material, thereby regulating the slowdown of the inertia ring. However, potential problems may arise during the operation of a typical inertia ring and its engagement with one or more generally stationary surfaces having sacrificial frictional material. For example, the surfaces having the stationary frictional material may not be able to accommodate the applied load of the shaft, and/or distribute the load among the surfaces. Therefore, what is needed is a system or configuration that overcomes these problems.